First published in 1969, Mario Puzo's modern masterpiece is a searing portrayal of the criminal underworld in 1940s America, and has become a cultural touchstone, containing "all the classic material of Mafia mythology" (Times, London). It is also a close portrait of the Corleone family, at once drawn together and torn apart by its unique position at the core of the almost feudal society of the American Mafia.

"Puzo's genius was to create a world so thick with personality and acknowledged rules of behavior, along with its crime and violence, that reading his books becomes a seriously guilty pleasure."—NYPost